ambassador

See also: ambassadör and ambassadør

English

Alternative forms

• ambassadour, embassador, embassadour (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?

Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰí

Proto-Celtic *ambi-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti

Proto-Celtic *ageti

Proto-Celtic *-tos

Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos

Gaulish ambaxtosbor.

Proto-Germanic *ambahtazder.

Latin ambasciātor

Old Occitan ambaisadorbor.

Old Italian ambassatorebor.

Anglo-Norman ambassadeurbor.

Middle English ambassadore

English ambassador

From Middle English ambassadore, from Anglo-Norman ambassadeur, from Old Italian ambassadore, from Old Occitan ambaisador (“ambassador”), derivative of ambaissa (“service, mission, errand”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *ambahtaz (“servant”), from Gaulish ambaxtos, from Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi-h₂eǵ- (“drive around”), from *h₂m̥bʰi- (“around”) + *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).

Displaced native Old English ǣrendraca.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /æmˈbæs.ə.də(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /æmˈbæs.ə.dɚ/, /æmˈbæs.əˌdɔɹ/

Noun

ambassador (plural ambassadors)

1. A diplomat of the highest rank sent to a foreign court to represent there their sovereign or country. (Sometimes called ambassador-in-residence)
   • 1982, Orville T. Murphy, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution, 1719-1787:

     Vergenne'fury reached its height when the priest tried to involve the English ambassador.

2. An official messenger and representative.
   • 1856, Mrs. William Busk, Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders: Or, Germany, Italy and Palestine, from A.D. 1125 to A.D. 1268‎^[1], volume IV, London: Hookham and Sons, →OCLC, page 294:

     The new accusation brought by Urban against Manfred of murdering his sister-in-law's embassador – it may be observed that, tacitly, he acquits him of parricide, fratricide, and nepoticide – requires a little explanation.

3. A corporate representative, often the public face of the company.

   As front hall porter, you are an ambassador for the hotel.

4. (sports) A player who is an excellent role-model and who upholds the integrity of the game and thereby contributes to the sport's popularity and growth.

Usage notes

• In English the preferred construction is (Nationality) ambassador to (Country) (the French ambassador to the United States) or ambassador of (Sending Country) to (Receiving Country) (the ambassador of France to the United States).

Derived terms

• amb.
• ambassadonor
• ambassador animal
• ambassador-at-large
• ambassadorial
• ambassadorless
• ambassadorship
• ambassadress
• ambassadrix
• ambassadry
• coambassador
• glambassador
• goodwill ambassador

Related terms

• embassy

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: ambaseda
• → Irish: ambasadóir
• → Tagalog: ambasador

Translations

diplomat of the highest rank

• Afrikaans: ambassadeur
• Arabic: سَفِير m (safīr), سَفِيرَة f (safīra)

  Egyptian Arabic: سفير m (safīr)

• Armenian: դեսպան (hy) (despan)
• Asturian: embaxador m, embaxadora f
• Bulgarian: пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik), пра́теница f (prátenica)
• Catalan: ambaixador (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大使 (daai⁶ si³)

  Mandarin: 大使 (zh) (dàshǐ)

• Coptic: ⲡⲣⲉⲥⲃⲉⲩⲧⲏⲥ m (presbeutēs)
• Czech: velvyslanec (cs) m, velvyslankyně (cs) f
• Danish: ambassadør (da) c
• Dutch: ambassadeur (nl) m
• Finnish: suurlähettiläs (fi)
• French: ambassadeur (fr) m, ambassadrice (fr) f
• Galician: embaixador m, embaixadora f
• German: Botschafter (de) m
• Greek: πρέσβης (el) m (présvis)

  Ancient Greek: πρεσβεύς m (presbeús), πρεσβευτής m (presbeutḗs)

• Gujarati: રાજદૂત (rājdūt)
• Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (he) m (shagrír), שגרירה f (shagrira)
• Hindi: दूत (hi) m (dūt), राजदूत (hi) m (rājdūt)
• Hungarian: nagykövet (hu)
• Icelandic: sendiherra m, (dated) ambassadör (is)
• Indonesian: duta (id)
• Irish: ambasadóir m
• Italian: ambasciatore (it) m, ambasciatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 大使 (ja) (たいし, taishi)
• Khmer: ឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូត (ʼaekʼakkĕəʼrŏətthaʼtuut), ទូត (km) (tuut)
• Korean: 대사(大使) (ko) (daesa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بالیۆز (balyoz)

  Northern Kurdish: sefîr (ku), ambasador (ku)

• Kyrgyz: элчи (ky) (elci)
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m, (Medieval) ambasiātor m
• Macedonian: амбаса́дор (mk) m (ambasádor), амбасадорка f (ambasadorka)
• Malay: duta (ms)

  Jawi: دوتا

• Maltese: ambaxxatur
• Navajo: naalchiʼí
• Norman: ambassadeu m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ambassadør (no) m

  Nynorsk: ambassadør m

• Occitan: ambaissador (oc) m, ambaissairitz (oc) f
• Odia: ଦୁତ (duta)
• Old English: ǣrendraca m
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سَفیر (safir), آمْباسادور (âmbâsâdur), ایلْچی (ilči) (dated)

• Polish: ambasador (pl) m, ambasadorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: embaixador (pt) m, embaixadora (pt) f
• Romanian: ambasador (ro) m, ambasadoare f
• Russian: посо́л (ru) m (posól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: амба̀са̄дор m, велепосла̀нӣк m (Croatia), велепо̀сланица f (Croatia)

  Latin: ambàsādor (sh) m, veleposlànīk (sh) m (Croatia), velepòslanica (sh) f (Croatia)

• Sicilian: mmasciaturi m
• Slovene: veleposlanik (sl) m, ambasador (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjelikopósłańc m

  Upper Sorbian: wulkopósłanc m

• Sotho: moambasadara
• Spanish: embajador (es) m, embajadora (es) f
• Swahili: balozi (sw)
• Swedish: ambassadör (sv) c
• Tagalog: sugo, embahador (tl)
• Thai: เอกอัครราชทูต (èek-àk-krá-râat-chá-tûut)
• Turkish: büyükelçi (tr), elçi (tr), sefir (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: ایلچی (elçi), سفیر (sefir)

• Ukrainian: посо́л m (posól), посо́лка f (posólka)
• Urdu: سَفِیر m (safīr), وَزِیر (ur) m (vazīr)
• Vietnamese: đại sứ (vi)
• Wolaytta: zakkara gudaa, zakkara gudaa

representative

• Afrikaans: ambassadeur
• Albanian: ambasador (sq) m
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: элчи (elči)

• Amharic: አምባሳደር (ʾämbasadär)
• Arabic: سَفِير m (safīr), سَفِيرَة f (safīra)
• Armenian: դեսպան (hy) (despan)
• Azerbaijani: səfir (az), elçi

  Arabic: سفیر

  Cyrillic: сәфир

• Belarusian: пасо́л m (pasól), амбаса́дар m (ambasádar), амбаса́дарка f (ambasádarka)
• Bengali: রাষ্ট্রদূত (bn) (raśṭrodut)
• Bulgarian: посла́ник (bg) m (poslánik), посла́ничка f (poslánička), посо́л m (posól) (dated, literary)
• Burmese: သံအမတ်ကြီး (sam-a.matkri:), သံအမတ် (my) (sam-a.mat)
• Chechen: векал (vekal)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大使 (daai⁶ si³)

  Dungan: дашы (dašɨ)

  Hakka: 大使 (thai-sṳ́)

  Hokkien: 大使 (tāi-sài)

  Mandarin: 大使 (zh) (dàshǐ)

• Coptic: ⲡⲣⲉⲥⲃⲉⲩⲧⲏⲥ m (presbeutēs)
• Czech: velvyslanec (cs) m, velvyslankyně (cs) f
• Danish: ambassadør (da) c
• Dutch: gezant (nl) m, ambassadeur (nl) m, ambassadrice (nl) f
• Esperanto: ambasadoro (eo) (male), ambasadorino (female)
• Estonian: suursaadik
• Finnish: lähettiläs (fi)
• French: ambassadeur (fr) m, ambassadrice (fr) f
• Georgian: ელჩი (ka) (elči)
• German: Botschafter (de) m, Botschafterin (de) f
• Greek: πρεσβευτής (el) m (presveftís), πρεσβευτίνα f (presveftína)
• Gujarati: એલચી (gu) (elacī), રાજદૂત m (rājdūt)
• Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (he) m (shagrír)
• Hindi: दूत (hi) m (dūt), राजदूत (hi) m (rājdūt), एलची (hi) m (elcī), सफीर (hi) m (saphīr), नुमाइंदा (hi) m (numāindā), प्रतिनिधि (hi) m (pratinidhi)
• Hungarian: nagykövet (hu)
• Icelandic: sendiherra m
• Ido: ambasadisto (io)
• Indonesian: duta besar (id), duta (id)
• Irish: ambasadóir m
• Italian: ambasciatore (it) m
• Japanese: 大使 (ja) (たいし, taishi)
• Kannada: ರಾಯಭಾರಿ (kn) (rāyabhāri)
• Kazakh: елші (elši)
• Khmer: ឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូត (ʼaekʼakkĕəʼrŏətthaʼtuut), ទូត (km) (tuut)
• Korean: 대사(大使) (ko) (daesa)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: balyoz (ku), sefîr (ku), ambasador (ku)

• Kyrgyz: элчи (ky) (elci)
• Lao: ທູດ (thūt)
• Latin: legatus (la) m
• Latvian: vēstnieks m, vēstniece f
• Lithuanian: ambasadorius m, ambasadorė f
• Macedonian: амбаса́дор (mk) m (ambasádor), амбасадорка f (ambasadorka)
• Malay: duta (ms), duta besar (ms)
• Māori: māngai, māngai kāwanatanga
• Marathi: राजदूत (rājdūt)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: элчин сайд (elčin said)

• Moore: tẽn-taag lɛta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ambassadør (no) m

• Odia: ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରଦୂତ (rāṣṭraduta)
• Old East Slavic: посълъ m (posŭlŭ)
• Old English: ǣrendraca m
• Pashto: سفير (ps) m (safír), ايلچي m (ilčí)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سَفیر (safir)

• Polish: ambasador (pl) m, ambasadorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: embaixador (pt) m, representante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ambasador (ro) m, reprezentant (ro) m
• Russian: посо́л (ru) m (posól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: амба̀са̄дор m, велепосла̀нӣк m (Croatia), велепо̀сланица f (Croatia), изасла̀нӣк m

  Latin: ambàsādor (sh) m, veleposlànīk (sh) m (Croatia), velepòslanica (sh) f (Croatia), izaslànīk (sh)

• Shor: элчи (elçi)
• Sicilian: mmasciaturi m
• Sinhalese: තානාපති (tānāpati)
• Slovak: veľvyslanec m, veľvyslankyňa f
• Slovene: veleposlanik (sl) m, ambasador (sl) m, veleposlanica f, ambasadorka f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjelikopósłańc m, wjelikopósłańc(ow)ka f

  Upper Sorbian: wulkopósłanc m, wulkopósłanča f

• Spanish: embajador (es) m, embajadora (es) f
• Swahili: balozi (sw)
• Swedish: ambassadör (sv) c
• Tajik: сафир (safir), элчӣ (tg) (elči)
• Tatar: илче (tt) (ilçe)
• Thai: ทูต (th) (tûut)
• Tibetan: གཞུང་ཚབ (gzhung tshab)
• Tigrinya: ኣምባስደር (ʾambasdär)
• Turkish: elçi (tr), büyükelçi (tr), sefir (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: ایلچی (elçi), سفیر (sefir)

• Turkmen: ilçi

  Cyrillic: илчи

• Tuvan: элчин (elçin)
• Ukrainian: посо́л m (posól), посо́лка f (posólka)
• Urdu: سَفِیر m (safīr), ایلْچی m (elcī), نُمائِنْدَہ m (numāinda)
• Uyghur: ئەلچى (elchi)
• Uzbek: elchi (uz)

  Cyrillic: әлчи

• Vietnamese: đại sứ (vi) (大使)
• Welsh: llysgennad m
• Yiddish: אַמבאַסאַדאָר m (ambasador)
• Zhuang: dasij

See also

• consul
• high commissioner